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The Best Late Night Poutine in Toronto

The best late night poutine in Toronto showcases the iconic comfort food in its best light. After dark (and after a few drinks), the satisfying mess of salty carbs, gooey cheese curds and soupy gravy starts looking more attractive than ever.

While daytime poutine tends to get dressed up with duck confit or even lobster, post-midnight poutine is a little more true to its down and dirty self. The traditional versions on this list all do it right (curds, never shredded cheese), but if you want to stick it to tradition altogether, there are some pretty monstrous variations to choose from... Epic Meal Time worthy stuff. To each his own!

Open until at least 3am on weekends, Poutini's offers six varieties ($5-10) that mostly keep true to the traditional base of fries, squeaky cheese curds (vegan version with daiya cheese excluded) and rich gravy. Simple variations offer thoughtful enhancements like bacon and maple syrup. More »

Smoke's Poutinerie will soon have over a dozen outposts across the GTA that keep hours until 3am or 4am on weekends. The chain offers 25+ novel spins on the traditional Quebecois snack food (think steak stroganoff or chicken fajita) and is known to overload cardboard takeout boxes to maximum capacity. Prices start at $6 and go up with the calorie count. More »

Lou Dawg’s two locations put a southern spin on this ultimate late-night comfort food. Here, the housemade chicken gravy is subtly smoky and the fresh cheese curds are applied generously. Available in two sizes ($6 and $11), there's also the choice to smothered it all with pulled pork, meaty beans or chili cheese. More »

Open until 2am on weekends, the kitchen at this Bloorcourt haunt does a poutine ($8-16) any way imaginable. Build your own perfect poutine with traditional or curry spiked gravy and add anything from the extensive list of burger toppings. Fried egg and potato chips? Yes please! Vegans can even indulge by subbing out the cheese for cornmeal fried tofu. More »

This 24-hour diner at Dundas and Ossington does poutine six different ways ($7-12) sometimes tossing sweet potato fries into the mix and offering a choice of house or mushroom gravy. Novel variations pile things like shaved sirloin and bell peppers over maple caramelized onions that just melt into the gravy. More »

Though not open super late, the Ossington Avenue location of this burger shop keeps the fryers hot until midnight on weekends. Alongside their roster of burgers, there’s classic ($6) and fully loaded poutines ($8-9) with optional toppings like caramelized onions with bacon or chorizo. More »

Situated in Little Italy and reliably open until 2am or later (4am on Saturdays), Johnny Jackson isn't a dedicated poutinerie but rather a refuelling station for night owls and party people. This place has got late night transactions down keeping choices simple (with bacon or without) and everything priced at an even $10. More »

This 24-hour diner on Wellington at Bathurst takes few liberties, favouring a classic poutine ($6.25) layered with gooey cheese curds melted under rich beef and veal gravy. Order it as a Poutine Quebecois ($8.25) for the addition of shredded smoked meat. More »

Beerbistro only starts serving poutine ($5-9) nightly at 11pm, dishing out six different beer-infused varieties that all start with excellent Belgian style frites dipped in beef and duck fat for perfect twice-fried deliciousness. Among the most popular variations, the Crispy Chicken ($6) ranks high and comes loaded with curds, chicken gravy, beer-cured bacon and southern fried chicken skin. More »

Smoke's is garbage. pay attention when you chew to little gritty pieces in your food, that is dirt. actual dirt. they are filthy, barely keep open their stores let alone their food truck (which was closed 3+ times a week at BMO Field). do yourself a favor and make your own, even if you're blind and no taste buds it will be better. poutini's is also great, looking forward to seeing them at Pride!

There is usually one reason for eating LATE NIGHT poutine and that is in the effort to pre-empt a hangover (the effectiveness of which is questionable). I'd argue that any poutine tastes great at 2:45 in the morning after many pints... Be mindful of context.

I agree with these comments - Smokes is pretty gross. To be honest, it's hard to find really great, honest poutine in this city. Worse even, if you're from Quebec, you will never be satisfied with a poutine in this city. Sorry Toronto, you're just not ready for it.

I used to get drunk downtown. I also used to make bad choices... amongst them (what) to eat at 2:30am while roaming the streets. I still get drunk, just not downtown. But now, for snack options I opt for things that aren't deep-fried and covered in "cheese" and "gravy".

Smoke's is pretty overrated IMO. Good in terms of variety in their combinations and the number of locations, but otherwise, definitely not the best out there.
Poutini's on the other hand is great. Excellent texture to their fries, bouncy cheese curds. Their pulled pork poutine is droolworthy.

Do any of BlogTo's aggregated reviews of so many different restaurant cuisines ever venture across the Prince Edward Viaduct? I love this website but live in the Beaches...rarely do I see any mention of east end delights...

You need great French fries to begin and Poutini's fries are not great. I would not go to them for just fries. I don't know if they know this or care. Chippies on the other hand yes! Great fries but no poutine.

Not open latebut by far the best poutine - Le Papillon on the Park (Eastern Ave - west of Coxwell) - true French Canadian Poutine made with a veal reduction and great fries!! - they do have a few varieties!!

Quebec poutine is just served with gravy with a bit of tomato sauce in it sometimes, not a veal reduction or a jus. Now that this old story has been dug up from its grave we will be put through the whole "pootzinn" lecture again. It is funny when people try to be snobbish about something so trashy as poutine.